


How Far We've Come

by Marimimi14



Series: Andrew and Neil Family's Adventures [6]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Children, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Exy (All For The Game), Family Feels, Family Fluff, M/M, News Media, Paparazzi, Parent-Child Relationship, Soft Andrew Minyard, Soft Neil Josten, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, pro!Neil, pro!andrew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marimimi14/pseuds/Marimimi14
Summary: Neil and Andrew have a day off. The kids are at school. It's time to catch up on some sleep and spend some time alone together. If only it was that simple.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Andrew and Neil Family's Adventures [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654528
Comments: 10
Kudos: 205





	How Far We've Come

Neil and Andrew had a day off. It was in the middle of the week, so Juniper and Everest still needed to go to school. They took the opportunity to go back to bed after the kids were off to school. They both needed the extra sleep and it was also a nice way to spend time with each other. Neil lied back in bed while Andrew was finishing brushing his teeth in the bathroom. When he appeared back in the bedroom, he eyed Neil already in bed. He rolled his eyes for the third time this morning. Neil couldn’t help but think he was being a little extra. Only because he was wearing his old fox’s hoodie.

“Yes or no?” Andrew asked.  
Neil rearranged his position on the bed. “Yes.” He said with a lazy smile.

Andrew got in the bed and got close to Neil. After getting another yes from Neil’s eyes, Andrew slid himself into Neil’s arms, lying most of his body on top of his. Neil’s hands went immediately for Andrew’s hair. His fingers carding through soft blond strands.

Andrew relaxed at his touch. Letting a deep sigh out. “I missed you too.” Neil said with a smirk.  
“Shut up.” Andrew growled. The effect of said growl was ruined by the fact that Andrew’s face was buried in Neil’s neck. His lips grazing Neil’s skin softly.

Neil smiled fondly at the man in his arms. It took them a long time to be comfortable with lying in each other’s arms like that. It had been difficult, and some days were still harder, but Neil wouldn’t exchange it for anything else in the world. Andrew planted a sleepy kiss on Neil’s neck and Neil returned the gesture by kissing him softly on his forehead. They drifted to sleep like that. Knowing that they were safe in their house and with each other.

Neil woke up a few hours later with a frown. Both his phone and Andrew’s had been ringing for a long time. Andrew grunted in his arms as Neil moved to pick up his phone. He had a ton of notifications on Twitter, a missed call from Dan, another one from Matt. Before he could manage to call any of them back his phone rang again. This time it was his coach. Neil frowned deepened but he still picked up the call.

“Yes.” He said.

Andrew was now wide awake. He sat up so Neil could do to. They sat next to each other. Andrew grabbed his phone and he squinted his eyes at it. He also had a bunch of notifications.

“Neil? Is Andrew with you?” Their coach asked. His voice sounded strained.  
“Yes. Give me a second.” He put the call on speakerphone and told his coach to continue.  
“I’m so sorry.” Their coach said.  
“What? What are you talking about?” Neil asked exchanging a look with Andrew. Why was their coach apologizing to them? Neil was usually the one to say sorry to his coach.À  
“You didn’t see the pictures? It’s all over the internet.” Their coach said in disbelief.

Neil looked at Andrew. The later simply shrugged. They had been asleep for the major part of the morning and none of them had used their phone.

“We don’t really care about pictures of us,” Andrew said. “The press should be bored with our couple by now.” He sounded bored which he probably was. Andrew had no patience about articles claiming they had inside news on them.  
“No. This time it’s different.” Their coach's voice was borderline panicked. “Everest and Juniper are in the pictures.” He finally managed to say.

Neil’s eyes widen at that. They had been really careful with the kids, not wanting the press involved. Especially since their friends and family didn’t even know about the children yet (well except for Renee).

“The PR department did their best, but they couldn’t take everything down. It’s making every exy news as we speak.” Their coach explained.

He continued speaking, but none of the men were listening. Andrew grabbed the remote for the tv in their room and turned it on. It was on the sports channel Neil liked to watch before going to bed. The first thing they saw was a big picture of the four of them at the grocery store. The picture was a bit blurry, but they could definitely be recognized. There were other pictures of them as they got back to the car and loaded the groceries in the trunk.

“Coach we have to go. Thanks.” Neil said sharply before hanging up.

They both stayed silent. Their eyes on their tv. Then Andrew’s phone started ringing. They both looked down at it. It was Aaron. Andrew exchanged a quick glance with Neil before picking up. He immediately put the call on speaker.

“Are they the reason you were both on break at the start of the season?” Aaron asked without a greeting.  
“Yes.” Andrew simply said. There was nothing else to say.  
Aaron stayed silent for a moment. They could only hear his breathing. “You really have kids.” He finally said in disbelief.

Neil’s jaw clenched at that. Aaron and Andrew’s relationship got better over the years, but Neil had no need to listen to him if he was going to be an asshole about this.

“Where are they?” Aaron asked them.  
“At school. Why?” Neil asked still a little annoyed.  
“Oh, I don’t know.” Aaron sighed. “Some of their classmates must be exy fans. I don’t want them to be overwhelmed with too much attention.”

Neil’s eyes widen. Of course.

“We have to go.” Andrew said without a pause.  
They could barely hear the “No shit.” that Aaron mumbled before Andrew hung up.  
“Call Everest’s school. I’ll call Juniper’s. We’re leaving in ten.” Andrew said before getting out of bed and getting dressed.

Neil sighed. Why was it happening on their day off? He didn’t even go on his morning run. He got out of bed and slipped on a pair of jeans before grabbing his phone to call Everest’s school.

Once both schools had been called to inform them that they were coming to pick up the kids, they both slid into Neil’s car. It was the one closer to the front door. Neil was sitting behind the wheel, his fingers drumming on it as they were stuck in traffic. They got to Juniper’s school first. They entered the building and went straight to the front desk. Juniper was sitting in the waiting room with the secretary beside her. She seemed a little antsy and scared. She lit up a little when she saw Andrew and Neil.

“Hey Jun. Are you ok?” Neil asked crouching in front of her chair with a smile.  
She nodded slowly. “A bunch of students I’ve never talked to before were all over me this morning. Asking me about you.” She said her eyes going from Neil to Andrew. “It was a little scary.”  
“I know. We’re going to get Everest and then we’ll go back home.” Neil explained to her keeping the stress away from his voice.  
“No one was mean to her. But the sudden attention spooked her a little.” The secretary informed them.

Juniper stood up and Neil did the same. She took a few steps and stood between the two of them.

“Can I hold your hand?” She asked looking up at the two men.  
“Yes.” They said in unison.

Juniper grabbed one hand of each, and they made their way to the car. Her smile was back on her lips by the time she climbed in the backseat. They drove to Everest’s school next. He was waiting for them outside of the doors with an adult. He nodded to Andrew and Neil, signalling them to not get out of the car. Everest said something to the adult with him and then made his way to the car. He sat in the backseat next to his sister.

“Are you ok?” Andrew asked, turning in his seat to look at the kids.  
“Yeah,” Everest said with a shrug. “Some people made snarky comments, but most wanted to know what it was like to live with celebrity.”  
“What did you tell them?” Neil asked with a playful smile as he started the car.  
“The truth. That Andrew needs reading glasses and that Neil tells us to finish our vegetables even if he doesn’t eat them.” Everest replied with a smirk.

Neil laughed at his words. Andrew wasn’t really the type to laugh, but his lips were turned up. A hint of smile if anyone looked close enough. They made it back home around 3:00 PM.

“What’s going to happen now?” Everest asked when they entered the living room.  
“We’ll probably have to hold a press conference. Make a statement.” Neil said already exhausted at by this perspective.  
“Why?” Juniper asked. She was already sitting on the couch. Minutes away from turning the tv on and watching something on Netflix.  
“The statement will help diffuse the situation. People talk about it because they don’t understand what’s going on.” Andrew told her.

He sat next to her and Juniper momently forgot about her tv plan to look at him. She seemed a little confused still. 

“Apparently because we play exy and people know our names we owe them everything about our lives. They feel like they deserve to know when we adopt children.” Neil said.

Both and Everest and Juniper looked up at him in surprise. His choice of word didn’t go unnoticed.

“You finally had the final answer?” Everest asked, his voice a little choked up.  
“We got it yesterday.” Andrew said.  
Juniper looked at him with a betrayed look. “It was late. You were already asleep. We were planning on telling you when you came back from school.” He explained.  
Juniper looked at her brother. Then back at Neil and Andrew. “You’re our parents for real?” She asked.  
Neil smiled at her. “For real. No one can take you away now.”

Juniper jumped out of the couch with a happy screech. She made a beeline for Neil and crashed against his legs and hugged him tightly.

“I hope that’s ok.” Neil said his hands going to her hair and stroking her buzzcut gently.  
“It’s more than ok.” She replied when she let go.  
“That’s like so… cool. I don’t know what I’m saying.” Everest said as he shook his head. “Thank you.”  
Andrew and Neil looked at him with an inquisitive stare. “Thank you for caring. That day I mean.” Everest tried to explain.  
Neil smiled at him. Andrew sighed and held out his hand. Everest understood what he meant, and he took it squeezing it. Andrew squeezed back. “You don’t have to thank us.” He said. “We’re proud to call you both our kids.”

Juniper got closer to them and Andrew held out his other hand so she could take it. Neil sat next to the rest of his family on the couch. A content smile on his lips.

“I don’t understand why you’re smiling like that. Now we’ll have to introduce them to the rest of the Foxes. Most of them we’ll be pissed we kept everything from them.” Andrew said in Neil’s direction.  
“I’m more scared about Nicky and his most probable scream of joy and intensive questions.” Neil replied his smile still in place.  
“Junkie.” Andrew muttered taking his eyes away from Neil and back on the kids on each of his sides.

Their morning might have started a little rough, but everything would be ok. Now that they all knew what was going on, Neil couldn’t help but be excited at the perspective of the foxes meeting the kids. 

**Author's Note:**

> They are finally an official family, at least in the eyes of the law! What about that? Next up, Juniper and Everest meeting the Foxes. Once again thanks for reading everyone :)


End file.
